LIFE’S PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS

Press, Volume XCII, Issue 27735, 12 August 1955, Page 2

LIFE’S PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS

CHRISTIAN ATTITUDE URGED LUNCH-HOUR ADDRESS BY DEAN SULLIVAN Human relationships, particularly as they affect a person’s daily work, were discussed by the Dean of Christchurch (the Very Rev. Martin Sullivan) in the last of a series of lunch-hour talks on “You,” in the Christchurch Cathedral yesterday. There was an attendance of more than 800. , , , “Your life is made up of personal relationships,” Dean Sullivan said. “Are you, at this moment, carrying a load of resentment in your heart towards another? Your attitude may be determined by jealousy because you have been wronged or hurt, through misunderstanding because you have insisted on your own way, from self-pity or from any other cause. Are you allowing the estrangement to continue, the anger to mount, the gap between you to widen? Are you longing to ‘get your own back?’ “Perhaps you have succeeded and exacted your revenge,” he said. “I put it to you: has this line of conduct really brought satisfaction or has it just meant that a few more things are brokjpn? There is no more difficult task than that of making friendly and forgiving overtures, more especially if you happen to be in the right,. but if you want to be a builder in life, this is the way. The alternative means you are surrounded by wrecks.” Speaking about money, hours of labour, business ethics, the quality of work, and factors in a job, Dean Sullivan said that Christ’s words, “Beware of covetousness” should be taken and used as a yardstick. “Never mind about the other fellow,” he said “Lay the injunction on your own heart. It is covetousness that is at the root of many of our problems, and no-one is free from it. All our talk about rights and profits, wages, and hours of work, all our shoddy work and shady dealings, come under this judgment. Indecision “Are you a ditherer? Are you the sort of person who can’t make up his mind, and consequently is for ever trying to catch up on things left undone?” Dean Sullivan asked. “It is amazing how this condition can reach down to the smallest detail, so that in the end you postpone writing a letter or making a telephone call or a visit, until finally it is too late to do anything about it. And you hate being reminded or urged to do anything about it, don’t you? You get so angry that you can’t be spoken to about it.” The end of this line of conduct was to reduce a man from the stature of a person to the flabby condition of a Jelly, he said. “Make your decision and go on to your act of commitment. Remember this is the Christian thing to do,” said Dean Sullivan. “Maybe you are getting about with a guilty conscience. Many people seem to be. There is no resolution of this problem until it is faced honestly. Usually a man rationalises, as the psychologists say; he finds his reasons for actions in places other than in the true ones. Have a look at yourself. Whatever that niggle of conscience may be, answer it. Do not evade it, do not escape, do not try to silence the inner voice; do not come to„ terms with evil. “Let me add one final reminder.” said Dean Sullivan. “You cannot lead a double life, so do not try. In the end, you will fall or get caught and your house will come tumbling in ruins about your feet ‘No man can serve two masters.’ Find one, the true one, give your allegiance to Him, and come to know peace in your heart.”